‘Outside the Circle' is smart, thought-provoking

Updated 1:06 pm, Thursday, July 5, 2012

Samuel Valdez and Andrea Assaf wrote and star in "Outside the Circle."

Samuel Valdez and Andrea Assaf wrote and star in "Outside the Circle."

Photo: Courtesy, Daniel Ortiz

‘Outside the Circle' is smart, thought-provoking

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“Maybe we should try celibacy,” Andy tells her new friend Rafa midway through an evening of sharing their romantic woes.

A case could be made for that, given how complicated and painful their quests for love have been. She's a lesbian with a tendency to fall for straight women; he's a straight man with cerebral palsy whose relationships tend to stall at the “friend” level.

Their stories unfold in “Outside the Circle,” a bilingual work written and performed by Andrea Assaf and Samuel Valdez. Maria Vale rounds out the cast, slipping effortlessly into a number of characters, including Rafa's ultra-macho dad, Andy's super-feminine mom, a waitress and a dancer at a sex club, and the unrequited loves of both main characters.

It opens with — what else? — a burst of Lady Gaga's “Bad Romance,” followed by a powerful spoken word piece in which three disembodied voices described the things that are “inside” the norm — “clean,” “good,” “moral” — and those that are “outside” of it — “ugly,” “dirty,” “abnormal.”

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From there, “Outside the Circle” challenges all of those ideas as Andy and Rafa get to know one another. It also deals with society's ideas of masculinity and femininity, as well as misconceptions about the disabled.

The piece is smart and thought-provoking. It's also short-lived — there are just two performances left — so plan accordingly.

“Outside the Circle” can be seen at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start, Blue Star Arts Complex, Alamo at Probandt. Tickets cost $10 to $15. Reservations are not required; tickets will be available at the door. Call 210-227-5867 for more information.